Holy, Holy, Holy

Isaiah was an amazing prophet for God. He preached God's word through four (I believe) kings of Israel in a time of great moral decline in that nation. Uzziah had reigned for many many years (I think it was around 40) in Israel and when he died the nation was thrown into a bit of turmoil and began to morally decay. Isaiah was arguably the pinnacle of the major prophets. While Jeremiah lamented, and Ezekial cried, Isaiah stood firm and preached the truth.

How was Isaiah able to be such an amazing prophet? The answer is in Isaiah 6:1-8

1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. 4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. 6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. 8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.


Isaiah saw the Lord people! When the word "Lord" has a lower case o-r-d it is refering to His position as ruler, as king. When "LORD" is in all caps it refers to God's "name", Jehovah. So Isaiah was saying, "I, Isaiah, saw the sovereign, the ruler of our universe!" Now no man has seen God and lived, so the ruler that Isaiah saw was the Christ part of the trinity before he descended to earth as a man.

Notice that as Israel was morally declining the Lord was not pacing...he was not worrying...he was sitting. He is sitting on His throne in total control. He is sitting high and lifted up.

And His train!! The train is a symbol of honor. The only place you see it anymore is at formal weddings. During Queen Elizabeth's coronation in England her train went clear to the back of Westminster Abbey and needed several courtiers to carry it as she walked. But the Lord's train that...that filled the temple!! God is worthy of infinite Honor.

And the seraphims...each with six wings. Two covering their face lest they be overcome by the holiness and purity and majesty that is the Lord. Two covering their feet. Their feet being symbols of themselves. They were covering themselves lest God see them. And these seraphims are calling back and forth to one another in the throne room. They're crying day and night. Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

In Hebrew when they wanted to emphasize something they didn't put words like "very" or "extremely" in from their adjectives. They repeated them. If you fell into a pit that was really deep, you'd say, "I fell into a pit pit." Nothing else in scripture is described by using a word three times, and only the Holy aspect of God is refered to this way. The absolutely terrifying, awesome, amazing, holiness of God is infinite. The house filled with smoke, possibly to spare Isaiah from being completely overcome with the sight. And what is Isaiah's response to all this? "Woe is me! for I am undone;" He cries out in despair because his uncleanness is brought into stark reality when confronted by the absolute holiness of God. He realized what the standard was, and he realized that he was immeasurably short of it. This changed Isaiah. This vision of the holiness of God allowed Isaiah to be an incredibly strong man of God.

But praise be to God the account doesn't end there. In this passage a seraphim touches his lips with a coal from the altar and removed Isaiah's iniquity and purged his sins. Praises be lifted up to God that we too have the ability to be purged of our sins. Not through a coal on our lips, but through Jesus' shed blood.

God forgive us for looking at our neighbor and thinking, "Well, I'm definitely doing better at holiness than he his." Or thinking about holiness in our lives and thinking, "I've been walking this Christian walk for a long time, and I'm doing pretty good...there are a few surface adjustments I could make, but I'm a pretty good person." We are NOT "GOOD PEOPLE". We are nothing. We are filthy and unclean, and woe is us.

The problem seems to lie, for me, in my tendancy to compare myself to others around me rather than compare myself to the perfect, holy, righteous standard of God himself.

1Pe 1:16
Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

My prayer is that I can regain my vision of the absolute holiness of God and let that vision spur me on to strive for the mark of the prize in totally obedience to the Word of God. Praise God for the imputed righteousness of Christ. (Romans 4:24)